A Training Center for Sisters of Mercy Opened in the Kokshetau Diocese

On July 1, 2025, with the blessing of Archbishop Varsanofy of Kokshetau and Akmola, a training center for sisters of mercy was opened in the city of Kokshetau at the Church Hospital of Saint Alexis. This is the first center of its kind in the Republic of Kazakhstan. In this center, instructors from the Training Center of the Moscow hospital will provide professional training to volunteers in the care of seriously ill individuals.

Bishop Varsanofy, the spiritual father of the newly formed sisterhood, emphasized the importance of implementing this project. “Our task is to help those residents who, due to serious illness or old age, are in need of care. Seriously ill people receive assistance at home from medical nurses, but they also require professional care support. This service will be taken up by the sisters of mercy,” the hierarch noted.

Upon completion of the training, the sisters of mercy will provide professional home-based nursing care, including feeding assistance, hygiene procedures, bed sore prevention, and comprehensive support to improve the quality of life for those who are seriously ill.

The first group of 20 residents of Kokshetau has already begun their training. Two instructors from the Training Center of the Church Hospital of Saint Alexis arrived from Moscow to conduct the sessions.

“We brought all the necessary equipment from Moscow and fully equipped the classroom. It brings us joy that the residents of Kokshetau will receive professional training in caregiving and will then undertake volunteer service. The activity of the Church hospital extends beyond the borders of the Russian Federation, because mercy knows no boundaries — kind and professional hands are needed everywhere, and the help of the sisters of mercy is needed everywhere. We wish our dear sisters a good path in mastering this new vocation and God’s help,” said Alexey Zarov, Director and Chief Physician of the hospital.

Kokshetau has become the eighth city where the Church Hospital of Saint Alexis has equipped and opened a training center.

The Church Hospital of Saint Alexis is a medical institution of the Russian Orthodox Church — a multidisciplinary healthcare facility with 302 beds. The hospital treats patients from all regions of Russia, regardless of religious affiliation. Branches are open in the Ivanovo, Moscow, and Yaroslavl regions. A licensed Training Center for the instruction of junior nurses in patient care operates within the hospital. The hospital is one of the main centers in Russia for training caregiving sisters and for the development of sisterhoods of mercy.